TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Best breakfast, best ribs, burgers, chicken?

I'm gonna figure best steak is at JAX. But......

...we're interested in people's favorite places for breakfast, and for burgers, ribs and chicken.

Thanks in advance...

We'll be at LaPlage in the Maho area and don't really wanna drive to the French side at night on SXM's roads.

But we'll be all over the island during the day, so all locations on the island are of interest to us for breakfast and lunch. For dinner, we'll be sticking to Maho or Simpson Bay.

David,

Because of summer closings we were forced to try new restaurants.
Don't forget about the great restaurants in Porto Cupecoy.

Lee's for ribs, BBB and sunset for burgers and vesna Taverna for breakfast.

If you go into philispburg Burger Madness burgers on the Boardwalk are hard to beat

For burgers the Sunset Beach Bar & Restaurant is still my number one choice. Burger Madness is good, but sometimes they overcook the burgers and it can dry them out. If you go there ask to have the burger cooked medium rare. For ribs I prefer Mark's Place which is technically in Philipsburg, but actually centrally located between Maho and the Philipsburg cruise port. It's also very reasonably priced. I concur with JAX for steaks. I don't order chicken too often, especially on St. Maarten so I'll check with my wife and see what she can offer.

Okay ... I'm back. My wife said she remembers getting Chicken Marsala at Toppers and said it was great. I don't remember this, but she orders chicken a lot so I'll take her word for it. Toppers also has really good cheeseburgers, too. IMO second to the Sunset Beach Bar.

Jax for steak??? I ate at Jax on our March trip....and hadh a very good tasting steak...but the best?? I think not. Personally, i think Moulen Fou beats them for steak. Could be only my opinion....but willing to hear others. As for ribs and chicken....easy answer and close to Maho. ROSIES on Mullett Bay!!! Best on the island. Only for lunch though...not open in evenings. Burgers....right at LaPlage Tortuga. I had one of the BEST I have ever eaten at the new Tortuga. It wa absolutely FABULOUS...and i love burgers...but never get excited over one....until this one!!!! LOL Of course, it is more difficult to find a so so restaurant on the island than a good or great one!!! You didn't mention a more casual dinner in the area too.....for that I would recomend Fat Tony's near the Med School. FANTASTIC pizza, decent cheap steaks...ribs....chicken etc. Also on some nights some fun entertainment shows up. Always a fun night when you just don't want that full formal meal. Enjoy your trip.

Since you are staying in Maho, there's a newer restaurant right across the street from Hole in the Wall called, I think, Cape Cafe. Had a nice assortment of crepes but that was about the extent of their menu.

Best Breakfast- Yacht Club
Best Ribs- Lees Dinner , Danys Cupecoy Lunch
Best Seafood -Rainbow Cafe Grand Case Lunch
Good Seafood Lunch- Pinel Island
Best Pizza- Fat Tony's
Best Burgers- my favorite used to be Tropical Wave on Galion- closed forever it seems, The Perch,
Sunset Beach Bar is also nice

Awesome Cocktails
Holland House - Simone's Kiss
Dany Cupecoy - Rum Punch
The Perch - Strawberry Daiquiri ( Willie's maybe it's the same now)
Marys Boon- Chunky Monkey
Toppers- Mudslide

I agree with Ed on the steaks....one I had at JAX was "just a steak" and "just a filet" to me. What I get at Moulin Fou is wonderful. And when I get my choice of true sauces I'm in heaven. Parking around there sux, so it's good you can walk from La Plage.

I will be doing that in 39 days!

Leona--Jax menu lists the following choices of sauces for their steaks. Cognac l Peppercorn l Demi - Glace l Chimichurri Did your steak not have a sauce?

Best breakfast Croissant Royal in Marina Royale in Marigot
Best lunch Le Taitu on the road to Mont Vernon, also great dinner as well, Closed Sundays
Other great lunches Tropicana & La Main a la Pate in marina Royale as well
So many places so little time! Enjoy wherever you choose.

We always stop at Buccaneer Beach Bar for a Cheeseburger. Yacht Club for Grouper Fingers. The Palm's for their lasagna, Vesna Taverna for breakfast. Always stop at Mark's Place just for a good inexpensive meal.

I always chuckle when people ask for ‘the BEST’ of anything since the appropriate responses will always be based on individual likes and dislikes of the responders.

We are NOT foodies, and I don’t use that term in a pejorative manner, so what appeals to me is usually a far cry from what so many others love and rave about.

I love Rosie’s dry ribs because they’re dry and not slathered all over with sticky gooey sauce yet others can’t stand how dry they are. We thoroughly enjoy our meals at LeMoulinFou but we’ve also really enjoyed our Spaghetti House experience and as island pizza goes, we’ve thoroughly enjoyed it at Fat Tony’s while others have said ‘....not so much!’ We’ve apparently been very lucky st ElZafiro in that every meal we’ve had there has been good and yet, we did dinner at another island favorite (one we always enjoyed in the past....) and it was over-all, one of the two worse meals I’ve had on island over 45 years of annual trips.

We really enjoy Tortuga, Holland House, and The Yacht Club for breakfasts along with Marks for a reasonably priced and always consistently good dinner. And if we’re of a mind to take a ride for our dinner, Antoine’s By the Sea was always our go-to place prior to the change in ownership, and while I’m personally not too inclined to want lasagne and such on the island, for a great Italian dinner I don’t think you can beat Spiga, Mario’s or LaRosa, Too.

Someone asked about burgers and in thinking about it, I don’t think I’ve ever had one on the island in ALL our island trips over all these many years.

Bottom line? Regardless of what you’re looking for food-wise, you will find it on SXM and the chances are pretty darned good you’re gonna’ love it.

Honestly Carol...those sauces are too easy and have no complexity (I also personally despise chimichurri!...murder to a filet)

Give me a 14 step bearnaise done to perfection and I'm yours forever.
Mushroom red wine sauce
Bordelaise
Take that silly demi glace further - give me an espagnole
Tolerate a peppercorn.

OK. I generally don't focus on sauces too much, just like the meat. I do like bearnaise sauce though.

In all honesty, David you can't go wrong food wise on St. Maarten unless you really don't know what you're doing. There are so many great restaurants offering everything you have mentioned I would suggest drawing up a list from the posts above and using it as your cheat sheet. There is no need to drive all the way to Grand Case or Orient Bay to find good food. Several months ago a local SXM publication had their "best of St. Maarten awards" that you might want to refer to. Someone out there must have the link, so stay tuned in and watch for this. Maybe Carol or Scubaman has the link handy.

Sammy--the 'best of SXM' poll from the Daily Herald, I have personally found to be kind of full of crap, and the French side is vastly under-represented in it. It depends on what type of food you are after, but I have found very few French restaurants on the Dutch side that can compete with a good half dozen restaurants each in Grand Case and Orient Village. Now, for anything OTHER than French, there are lots of good choices on the Dutch side.

I, too, find "the best" a little silly. There's no way anyone has had EVERY item being discussed. Unless you have eaten ALL the hamburgers on the island, ALL the steaks on the island, ALL the pizza on the island, etc., you simply cannot say any one is "the best."

I'll get off my soapbox now.

I think you are quite right.

The op said "we're interested in people's favorite places for ..."

So by Best
I am saying the best in my opinion.. my favorite..

Maybe I should have lead with in my opinion the best burger is ...

You're good, Tammy.... pretty clear that the OP was looking for everyone's favorite places for certain foods.....not THE definitive best. Sometimes we split hairs in here....

Semantics are funny

They mean ONLY the best they have tried. I agree that is not the way to choose THE BEST! 😊

I eat breakfast at Divi.
Enjoy the Caribbean view...
Don

I often say, the best i have had so far, because i have so many more to try, and it's the perfect spot for that!

Since we understand best = subjective based on experience & preference:
Breakfast - La Croissant Royal; ribs - Perch Bar & Grill (seriously); burgers - Yellow Sub; chicken - Tropicana

Best burgers have been at Buccaneer Beach Bar . I thought the burgers at Sunset where just average last year.
If you like eggs benedict, SMYC makes them very well. I did have to send mine back last year because the yolk was over cooked but second time they came out perfect. I've always loved the eggs bennie and shrimp topped Bloody Mary but with the new chef the eggs weren't as good as years past. I still will go to eat them and watch the boats come in and out of harbor. Lee's had a very good steak, is it the best? Can't say but it's very good. Prime Ribs at Topper's is Tops. Grilled fish - the best for me last year was Mark's Place.

I also love Perch burgers 😋.
Haha I consider myself a French Fries connoisseur 🤣 and love the fries at Perch too.

At SMYC pancakes and mimosas.

We'll be doing that in 31 days!

Best Breakfast--SMYC now. A Nutella croissant at Jules with their great coffee for a lighter breakfast.

Best Restaurant for a variety of dishes--- Vesna Taverna

Best new find for Italian--- Isola

Variety of food for Casual Family dinners--- Greenhouse Simpson Bay

I do love hitting the LOLOs --good island food.

Thanks for all your responses, everyone ! And just for clarification, when I asked about the "best" burgers, ribs, etc, I realize that it's subjective. I just wanted to hear as many ideas as possible and then be able to come to a good conclusion based on "the wisdom of the majority."

Lots of good choices - thank you to everybody.

I will also say that we sometimes just go across the street to the Maho market, and fill up their styrofoam containers with pancakes, eggs, bacon, etc, when we want to get to Orient beach early, and get on the road quick. It's very convenient and, if you get there right when they put the items out, it's nice and hot and fresh.

But Vesna sounds AWESOME !!!
And so does Moulin Fou.

el Zafiro.. Great food, beautiful view of Simpson Bay, and very close to where you are staying!

The best ribs were Captains rib, hands down.

Personally, I smoke my ribs for a 2-3 hours, then use steam convection to cook them. Everyone loves my ribs but my son wont touch them.

But when we got to Captains, he gave my son a taste test and he loved them.

Im still waiting for them to send their rub to NYC LOL

And don't forget the Johnny Cakes! We love that food bar.